JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A new, independent, mineral resource estimate for Ivanhoe Mines’ joint venture Kipushi mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has shown measured and indicated mineral resources in the big zinc zone of 10.2-million tonnes.
“This has exceeded our expectations and we are convinced that significant additional mineral resources can be delineated at Kipushi,” Ivanhoe chairperson Robert Friedland said in a statement.
The resource estimate at the historic, high-grade, zinc-copper-germanium-lead-silver mine further indicated grades of 34.89% zinc, 0.65% copper, 19 g/t silver and 51 g/t germanium, at a 7% zinc cut-off, containing an estimated 7.8-billion pounds of zinc.
Friedland said that, with a resource now established, the company would evaluate technical and infrastructure options to best advance the project.
“The exceptionally high grades that are consistently being discovered at Kipushi are unique in the international mining industry and provide further confirmation that this project has the potential to benefit the people of the DRC for decades to come when it returns to production,” he noted.
The estimate also showed that the mine, a JV with State-owned mining Gécamines, had a zinc-rich inferred mineral resources of 1.9-million tonnes, at grades of 28.24% zinc, 1.18% copper, 10 g/t silver and 53 g/t germanium.
The estimate was completed by South Africa-based MSA Group, in compliance with Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) standards.